50 G.M.R. Manzella and MFS-VOS Group
3.5.3 Data quality control
The first control was visually done by the personnel on board the ships of opportunity. In case of a wrong profile, another XBT was launched only in the case that
the time interval with the preceding launch was less than 15 minutes. The software
developed in collaboration with ARGOS system engineers performed another
check before the data transmission. The parameters controlled by the software are
presented in the Table 3.4.
Quality Control on board (data between O - 460 m)
Outside range temperature
2 - 34 °C
Temperature inversion above 200 m
4.5°C
Temperature inversion below 200 m
1.5°C
Upper 5 metres
No control
Table 3.4 Parameters controlled for the quality control on board. The check was done
automatically by the ARGOS software
During the three month training period, it was noted that the sea surf ace temperature was presenting some errors, due to causes such as (e.g.) the different initial
temperature of the XBT sensor, the non vertical drop of the probe, or others. For
this reason it was decided to assume as sea surf ace temperature the value at 5 m.
The data transmitted to the MFS-VOS data centre were again controlled with a
software which included the gross range check developed during the MEDATLAS
project (www.ifremer.fr/sismer/program/medar).Afinal check was done before the
assimilation in the forecast model.
3.5.4 Near real time data flow
The data (decimated) were transmitted via satellite to the ARGOS centre in Toulouse, where they were decoded and transmitted by e-mail to the MFS-VOS data
centre in ENEA CRAM (La Spezia), which provided the dissemination through a
ftp site accessible through a project WWW. The data dissemination is completely
open to alI kind ofusers and to the general public.
The MFS-VOS WWW offer also the access to Ocean Data View software graphical representation of the data (Schlitzer, 2000).
3.6 Discussion and conclusions
During the last decade, an important change in the concept of data management
has occurred. In the past the data manager was a technician charged to control the
quality of the data and prepare the data for the analysis, which was a duty of a scientist. In an efficient dissemination system, the data analysis precedure is now part
3.5.3 Data quality control
The first control was visually done by the personnel on board the ships of opportunity. In case of a wrong profile, another XBT was launched only in the case that
the time interval with the preceding launch was less than 15 minutes. The software
developed in collaboration with ARGOS system engineers performed another
check before the data transmission. The parameters controlled by the software are
presented in the Table 3.4.
Quality Control on board (data between O - 460 m)
Outside range temperature
2 - 34 °C
Temperature inversion above 200 m
4.5°C
Temperature inversion below 200 m
1.5°C
Upper 5 metres
No control
Table 3.4 Parameters controlled for the quality control on board. The check was done
automatically by the ARGOS software
During the three month training period, it was noted that the sea surf ace temperature was presenting some errors, due to causes such as (e.g.) the different initial
temperature of the XBT sensor, the non vertical drop of the probe, or others. For
this reason it was decided to assume as sea surf ace temperature the value at 5 m.
The data transmitted to the MFS-VOS data centre were again controlled with a
software which included the gross range check developed during the MEDATLAS
project (www.ifremer.fr/sismer/program/medar).Afinal check was done before the
assimilation in the forecast model.
3.5.4 Near real time data flow
The data (decimated) were transmitted via satellite to the ARGOS centre in Toulouse, where they were decoded and transmitted by e-mail to the MFS-VOS data
centre in ENEA CRAM (La Spezia), which provided the dissemination through a
ftp site accessible through a project WWW. The data dissemination is completely
open to alI kind ofusers and to the general public.
The MFS-VOS WWW offer also the access to Ocean Data View software graphical representation of the data (Schlitzer, 2000).
3.6 Discussion and conclusions
During the last decade, an important change in the concept of data management
has occurred. In the past the data manager was a technician charged to control the
quality of the data and prepare the data for the analysis, which was a duty of a scientist. In an efficient dissemination system, the data analysis precedure is now part